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Shazzan (The H.B. Complete Series)

by: Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc.

Publication date: 1967

Topics: Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera

Language: English

Item Size: 4.4G

Shazzan is an American animated television series created by Alex Toth and produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired on Saturday mornings on CBS from September 9, 1967, to January 20, 1968, and continued in reruns until September 6, 1969. The series follows the adventures of two teenage siblings, Chuck and Nancy, traveling around a mystical Arabian world, mounted on Kaboobie the flying camel. During their journey they face several dangers, but they are aided Shazzan, a genie with magical powers. 18 half-hour episodes were produced, made up of two 11-minute segments.

- Plot -

Siblings Chuck and Nancy come across a cave off the coast of Maine where they find a mysterious chest containing halves of a strange ring. When they first join the two halves of a ring, they end up transported back to the fabeled land of the Arabian Nights where they meet their genie Shazzan. Shazzan creates a magical flying camel named Kaboobie to serve as their mode of transportation and gives them gifts like an invisibility cloack and a magic rope. Shazzan tells Chuck and Nancy that he cannot return them home until they deliver the two halves of the ring to its rightful owner known as the Wizard ot the 7th Mountain.

Shazzan is very large, being able to hold Chuck, Nancy, and Kaboobie in the open palm of his hand. He is wise and jolly in nature, usually appearing with a cheerful "Ho-ho ho-HO!" and addressing the two children as his "little masters". Chuck and Nancy each wear one half of the broken ring, which has to be joined to bring forth their magical servant in times of danger or different villains.

Out of the one-shot villains, Shazzan, Chuck, Nancy, and Kaboobie had two villains they encounter more than once:

- Master of Thieves - A powerful sorcerer who leads a group of thieves.

- Demon in the Bottle - An evil demon imprisoned in a bottle that seeks vengeance on those who imprisoned him.

A frequent plot device is that the two teenagers became separated, most often by the act of a villain. They cannot summon the omnipotent genie until they manage to find each other. Once Shazzan materializes, it is extremely bad news for the villain.

- Style -

The series is similar in its style and production details to the other Alex Toth-created CBS Saturday morning cartoons of 1966-1968, relying heavily on music and sound effects earlier created for Jonny Quest. As is typical for both animated and live-action TV series of the era that revolve around an ongoing dilemma (Dino Boy in the Lost Valley, Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor, Lost in Space, Gillgan's Island, Lidsville, etc.), the heroes never resolve their long-term situation. Chuck and Nancy never find the ring's master owner and thus never return to their American teenage lives.